GTA Launch Stunt Lands French Retailer In Trouble

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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GTA Launch Stunt Lands French Retailer In Trouble


A retailer in the French town of Montargis had a not-entirely-pleasant encounter with police after two employees dressed up for the Grand Theft Auto V launch with masks and guns.

The Grand Theft Auto V launch was a pretty big deal, so retailer Micromania in the French town on Montargis decided to make the most of the moment and had a couple of employees dress up for the day for day in appropriate garb: masks and toy guns.

Alas, a concerned citizen passing by the shop took dress-up day a little more seriously than intended and called the police, reporting that the joint was being robbed. Within minutes, a team of about 15 police officers, some packing submachine guns, surrounded the store, ready to inflict Gallic justice on the ne-er-do-wells within.

Fortunately for all involved, it very quickly became clear that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. The owner of the store explained the situation to police, who apparently weren't amused; one officer told La Republique du Centre that "it could have ended very badly" and that it was lucky nobody was hurt.

A bit of an overreaction, perhaps, but understandable, according to The Local: The French Riviera has apparently suffered a string of high-profile heists over the summer, and earlier this month thieves made off with €2 million ($2.7 million) in loot after "ram-raiding" a Paris jewelry store.

Source: The Local [http://www.thelocal.fr/20130918/police-called-over-gangster-game-stunt]


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Adam Jensen_v1legacy

I never asked for this
Sep 8, 2011
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If someone did that in the good ol' US of A, they'd most likely get killed by cops. I keep reading stories of cops shooting unarmed people in their driveways. That's how nervous and poorly trained American cops are.
 

Lieju

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Jan 4, 2009
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Why would anyone think dressing up like that was a good idea? It's not really immediately recognisable as a costume, you'd need to make pretty sure it's clear from the context they aren't carrying real guns or anything.
 

Rossco64

New member
Apr 14, 2009
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A bit of an overreaction, perhaps,
Um, no? The police get a call saying a shop is being robbed by armed robbers. 15 armed police officers show up. Seems pretty standard procedure to me.
 

Piorn

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Dec 26, 2007
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Weird marketing idea.
I only played a bit of GTA4, and all I did was drunk driving, go bowling, and get swept up in shady businesses I really had no interest in joining anyways while talking about the american dream.
Maybe the heists come in later?
 

RicoADF

Welcome back Commander
Jun 2, 2009
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Piorn said:
Weird marketing idea.
I only played a bit of GTA4, and all I did was drunk driving, go bowling, and get swept up in shady businesses I really had no interest in joining anyways while talking about the american dream.
Maybe the heists come in later?
GTAV has added alot more features, one of it's main new things is bank/shop heists, which is what this store was err, promoting? The heists beging with you scouting the area, then you plan it and organise crew then finally you execute based on what you decide (you pick one of 2 options, usually loud or quiet).

OT: Lucky it didn't go badly, honestly this could have all been avoided if the store had simply informed the police ahead of time about the planned event. Sounds like a bad job at organizing rather than a bad idea itself.

wombat_of_war said:
stupid ass marketing idea the guy should be fired who came up with it.
To be fair as stated above some organisation and communication with the local police would have allowed this to go ahead without incident. If they knew there was an event with a planned phony robbery at the address then they would know and thus would not accidently overreact if they received a call.
 

Strazdas

Robots will replace your job
May 28, 2011
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imagine coming into a store, two armed guys come up to ytou and tell you to buy this game.
yeah i cant see how can this end badly....